Membership FAQs
Find common questions for AIGA membership below.
Watch this short video to learn more about the join and renew process.
Joining AIGA
Click here to reset your password and an automated email will be sent to you shortly. If you don't receive one, please email membership@aiga.org and we'll send you a password reset email from the backend.
If you need to reset your username, please also email membership@aiga.org and we'll update that for you.
All members are a part of AIGA’s national organization, and are also affiliated with one of the 70+ local chapters across the nation. When you become a member and select a chapter, a portion of your dues goes to funding your chapter’s programming and initiatives, local networking events, workshops, Design Weeks, conferences, and more. When creating your profile on my.aiga.org you can choose your chapter during the join process.
AIGA's online Designer Directory allows a search by first name, last name, company, city, or state. In addition, you can view members’ portfolios at portfolios.aiga.org.
The Designer Directory is a public listing of all active AIGA members. The minimum information included in your public profile is your name and email address. However, when you log in to my.aiga.org and click "My profile", you may fill out the optional fields as extensively as you wish.
New Membership Model 2022
AIGA’s museum-style membership model was outdated and not growing with or supporting the needs of our community. This new model is a stronger, more mission-aligned, and sustainable model for the good of the association and its members. It will:
- Simplify the structure to be more aligned with design career lifecycles and how our members see themselves within our community.
- Position AIGA to better fulfill its mission.
- Clarify and communicate the value of membership.
- Increase potential of economic value-add to chapters.
- Better equip AIGA to create more value for our members and the entire design community.
This new model takes effect in January 2022.
- We will transition from a tiered model to a career-arc (persona) model.
- With the new model, anniversary membership dates move to a calendar year.
- Member benefits will be consistent and equitable across all member types; making them easier to communicate and promote.
- Group membership tiers will be simplified and reduced, with groups members paying at a per person rate, based on group size.
- Streamlined and simplified to easily articulate and define member types.
- Consistent and equitable benefits across all AIGA member types, with programs, education, and events geared toward the needs of each level of membership.
- Calendar year invoicing increases billing accuracy, drives member retention, and allows for cohesive annual campaign messaging.
- Dues rates are aligned with the market and will allow for essential reinvestment in value creation and AIGA Mission fulfillment.
- Student: A full-time K–12 student, or any full-time college/university undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in a two–or four–year program in design, visual communications, or related field of study. Student members under the age of 18 are not eligible to vote or to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. Applicants for Student membership may be required to provide their school name and anticipated graduation date for eligibility purposes. Yearly dues: $50
- Emerging: A new design practitioner who is one to four years past graduation OR any new practitioner with less than a total of four years experience in the profession. Members only qualify for this category for a maximum of four (4) years. Applicants for Emerging membership may be required to verify employment dates and/or graduation dates for eligibility purposes. Yearly dues: $150
- Educator: A full-time (or equivalent) educator in design or related field of study, in a K–12 school, college, or university. Yearly dues: $200
- Professional: A design or related industry professional with five (5) or more years in practice. Yearly dues: $250
- Leader: A professional designer, industry–adjacent leader, arts supporter, or firm owner who opts to make a greater investment in AIGA and the future of the profession. Yearly dues: $500
- In January 2022, a new membership type will be assigned to you based on your current member profile. This will be done as a courtesy, at no charge to you, and all of your current membership benefits and savings offers will remain available to you until your normal membership anniversary date in 2022.
- You will be able to edit your new member type in your member profile to the one that best suits your career status (Student, Emerging, Educator, Professional, or Leader) at any time.
- As your 2022 anniversary date approaches, you will be invoiced for your annual renewal at the new membership level in your profile.
- Prior to making your renewal payment, you will be invited to review and confirm or change your new membership type to the one that best suits your career status.
- You will be billed a prorated amount for the remainder of the 2022 calendar year according to your anniversary date and new member type.
- Upon receipt of your prorated 2022 dues payment, your new membership paid through date will become December 31, 2022. You may also be given the option to renew for 2023 at this time or to choose "Bill Me Later."
Moving to a calendar year membership will make your AIGA membership even easier to manage. All AIGA members will have the same expiration date of December 31 every year and national campaigns and chapter drives will help members across the country remember to renew annually. Extended grace periods and special promotions will help with the transition.
In 2022, you will be billed a one-time prorated amount for the remainder of the calendar year according to your current anniversary date and new member type to bring your membership paid through date to December 31, 2022. From there on, you will be invoiced annually late each Fall as your annual December 31 expiration date approaches.
YES! Your 2022 membership will be prorated. In 2022, near your normal anniversary date, you will be invited to renew for the remaining months of 2022 to bring your membership into a calendar year cycle with an annual December 31 expiration date. You may also be invited to pay immediately or be invoiced later for your 2023 calendar year membership.
Example: A Student Member with an August 5, 2022 anniversary date.
2022 Invoice: $20.83 for membership from August through December 31, 2022
2023 Invoice: $50.00 for membership from January through December 31, 2023
YES! We know that times are challenging, and want to make AIGA membership accessible to those who want to make the investment. And as part of our new membership structure, AIGA will offer quarterly installment options for members in the Emerging, Educator, Professional and Leader categories. Installment plans are not available for Student or Group memberships.
Monthly installment options will no longer be available to new or renewing members, but existing agreements in progress will continue as scheduled until their 2022 completion date. At the end of the scheduled cycle, affected members will be invited to sign up for quarterly installment payments with their 2022 membership renewal.
After holding annual membership dues rates steady for more than 10 years, AIGA has developed this new membership model to better serve our members and promote our mission to advance the profession of design. With your support, these changes will allow AIGA to make greater investments in industry research, innovative professional development programming like our new Certificates for Creatives, and more advanced technical services. This is added value creation for you as a design professional, and for the community as a whole; it is work we are excited to develop and continue to deliver now and in the years ahead.
There is value in being part of a profession and larger community. It’s an investment in yourself and in your peers, and our profession. AIGA is evolving and growing every day! Here’s a tiny sample of all-new programming and services that we added in 2021:
- Certificates for Creatives
- Member Meetups
- AIGA Design Adjacent Podcast with Bennie F. Johnson
- Fireside Chats with over a dozen industry titans
- AIGA Career Festival
- AIGA Design + Business Conference
- AIGA Design POV Research
- And, coming in March 2022 - AIGA Design + Advocacy Conference
We need you! Your contribution as a member matters. Your voice as an advocate for the profession, your work as a designer, and your personal skills and contributions to the association matter. You make AIGA, the professional association for design!
Watch this short one minute video to see how to renew, then visit my.aiga.org to complete the renewal process.
Please contact our membership team at membership@aiga.org and they will be able to help answer your membership questions. You can also call 212.807.1990.
Benefits membership
Membership with AIGA has many benefits including connection to the largest design community in the US, full access to Design Jobs, discounts on events, professional development offerings, services, and products; industry news and trends, health insurance assistance, and more! To view the full list of benefits AIGA members receive, please visit the Member Special Offers page. Additionally, AIGA chapters often provide additional member benefits specific to their creative community. Inquire with your local chapter for more information.
Your educator or student status is captured as an attribute within your my.aiga.org member profile. You can join or renew at any membership level and select the “educator” or "student" attribute under “job type”. Be sure to keep this information up to date as it is critical for providing you the most relevant news and opportunities.
In partnership with Association Health Programs (AHP), AIGA offers assistance with health insurance enrollment. AHP is the industry leader for providing health insurance solutions to association members by designing and recommending products tailored to each member’s needs. With 30 years of experience, AHP brings product knowledge and rate stability to AIGA members.
While AHP is able to offer some product discounts to eligible members, this varies based on a number of components including state and plan type. To learn if the plans you are interested in are available at a discounted rate, AIGA members can call an AHP representative today at 888-450-3040.
Please be aware that AHP will not be able to provide information about available health insurance options to non-members. The benefit AHP offers our members is assistance in looking for plans, costs, and options based on certain criteria. This means the information (plans, cost, etc) cannot be shared with those who aren't members of our association.
Posting to Design Jobs is available to members and nonmembers, but current AIGA members at the Sustaining level and above receive a significant discount when posting a job. Other questions about Design Jobs? Check out the Design Jobs support page.
International membership
AIGA has members located around the world, but no active international chapters. When registering, you can choose ‘Member at Large’ from the chapter field of your my.aiga.org account.
As a peer group, AIGA offers advisory opinion letters in support of O-1, O-2, and H-1B petitions to members with their membership dues paid in full. Required materials (listed below) can be emailed to membership@aiga.org.
- Digital resume/ CV
- Examples of work (link to website or digital PDF portfolio)
- Completed advisory opinion letter request form
The cost for this service is $250 payable by credit card, wire transfer, or check. Members typically receive their letters within four to ten business days, once all of the materials are received. For an extra $50, we can expedite the process and return the letter within one to three business days, and if you need an updated letter (within a year) we can provide the service for a flat rate of $50.
If you aren’t an AIGA member, please visit my.aiga.org or email membership@aiga.org.
Group membership
We moved from a tiered model to a per person rate. See our page here online for more information, and view the rates below. The group admin will be able to swap members as long as they don't exceed the number of member slots they originally purchased, or add a new member at the prorated rate.
3 to 5 members = $225 per person
6 to 9 members = $175 per person
10 to 99 members = $150 per person
100+ members = $125 per person
Email membership@aiga.org to speak with a membership specialist.
During phase 1 of our database transition, our admin portal is currently unavailable. Please email membership@aiga.org to make changes to your group's roster.
Thank you for your patience. We recently migrated systems, and we are unable to process Student Group Memberships at this time. We are working on a solution and plan to have an update in Fall 2022. Please visit Student Groups for more information. The AIGA Membership Team will work with you to activate/renew your student groups/faculty advisor memberships. To expedite processing, all student and faulty members must create their own profiles at my.aiga.org to ensure timely receipt of future AIGA benefits and communications. If time sensitive, we recommend processing student memberships individually and then later linking them to the roster when we roll out an update.
Payment options
AIGA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your dues are considered a charitable contribution. The AIGA dues installment program is an agreement to pay your annual dues in full by the end of the year. While we can accommodate a request to end your membership benefits early, your dues installment payments must be completed in full, as agreed at the time your annual dues installment payment agreement was approved.
AIGA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your dues are considered a charitable contribution. AIGA membership dues are non-refundable and non-transferrable to another individual.
Yes, you can upgrade your membership at any time during your membership cycle by emailing membership@aiga.org. Dues that have already been received are non-refundable. However, you are welcome to downgrade your membership at the time of renewal.
To purchase a gift membership, please complete this form or email membership@aiga.org. The AIGA membership team will work with you to record the recipient’s contact information (full name, email address, chapter, and mailing address) and process your payment. A receipt will be emailed to you for your records.
